Taking a Turn
.Over the years there were several turntables at the East Broad Top Railroad. The current turntable appears to have been in place by 1914. ..It is reported to have been purchased secondhand from the New York Central. It was built by the Stroebel Construction Co, Chicago, IL and is of deck steel plate girder construction. According to the story, it was cut down to narrow gauge dimensions in Mount Union before being hauled to Rockhill. It is air powered via the two valve stands on either end, so that a single hostler could turn the engines. The air for the system was provided by a coupling connected to the locomotive's air brake hose. The air system proved unwieldy, and it was usually turned by hand...East Broad Top Railroad No. 17 is a 2-8-2 Mikado built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in March of 1918. It pulled the last two freight trains on the original East Broad Top Railroad in 1956. ..The railroad was completed in 1874 to service the iron furnaces and coal mines along a 33-mile corridor in Huntingdon County PA. The railroad closed was sold in 1956 to the Kovalchick family who reopened the train in the 1960s and ran passenger excursions through 2011. ..The EBT foundation, Inc. acquired the railroad in 2020 and immediately began an extensive restoration effort with the goal of returning the railroad to regular service. ..